Florida law may result in injustice

WHERE WE STAND:We're thankful that New Jersey law doesn't go so far in empowering would-be shooters.

In life, Trayvon Martin was just another American teenage boy - he had his family and friends, he enjoyed sports, music and girls, he offered a picture of himself on social media.

But in death, Martin, the 17-year-old who was fatally shot in Florida on Feb. 26, has become a catalyst for impassioned debate nationwide about issues that have always simmered at a low boil. Now, these issues of race, guns and the law are boiling over again.

At various times in our history, but particularly through the era of strife over civil rights, the 1950s and '60s, we have struggled to deliver justice for the family and friends of Americans who were senselessly killed.

Martin, just a teenager walking back from a quick trip to the convenience store to buy candy and iced tea on Feb. 26, was senselessly killed, make no mistake. Whatever he said or did after being confronted by overzealous neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman that night likely will never be known since Martin isn't alive to tell his side of the story.

But it was Zimmerman who followed Martin as he walked, keeping up his pursuit even after a 911 dispatcher told him not to. It was Zimmerman who carried a gun, Zimmerman who approached Martin and Zimmerman who shot and killed the teenager.

Police are not infallible, nor is the law, and in this case, it appears from the outside as though there have been serious errors, including the passage of a state law that may have empowered Zimmerman and put police in a situation where they somehow felt justified in not filing criminal charges.

A teenage boy has died for little reason other than he had the misfortune of walking through a neighborhood where Zimmerman took notice of anyone who looked "suspicious," in his eyes. A young, black teenager with a hoodie fit the bill, it seems.

So Trayvon Martin is dead because of that and his family is left to believe there was no crime in how he died? That's absurd.

For better or worse, and there are plenty who will argue it's for the worse, we're glad to be in a state where there isn't a law on the books that more or less gives wide latitude to shooting first and asking questions later, as Florida's "stand your ground" law does.

Defending oneself, one's home or family from an aggressor is one thing. But following, confronting and then shooting a so-called "suspicious" person in a public space and then being protected by the law is quite another. It is not right.

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Florida law may result in injustice

In life, Trayvon Martin was just another American teenage boy ? he had his family and friends, he enjoyed sports, music and girls, he offered a picture of himself on social media.